David Bowie’s first recording – lost in a loft – set for auction

David Bowie’s first recording – lost in a loft – set for auction

David Bowie’s first known studio recording, which was rejected by a record company and found in a bread basket, will be sold at auction.

The 1963 demo tape features a 16-year-old Bowie, then David Jones, in his first band The Konrads.

The group were turned down by Decca and the tape of Bowie singing ‘I Never Dreamed’ – a song penned for the recording – was never released.

Bowie quit the band in the following months, but his career took off six years later with ‘Space Oddity’.

The tape, expected to fetch £10,000 (€11,200), is part of a trove of memorabilia to be sold by former Konrads drummer David Hadfield, who also managed the band.

He unearthed it while moving house in the 1990s, in the loft of his garage inside a bread basket that once belonged to his grandfather.

Bowie was the band’s saxophonist but it was decided he should sing lead vocals for the tape.

Hadfield said: “David had no inclination to become a singer, his heart and mind were focused on becoming a world class saxophone player. Our agent Eric Easton, who also managed the Rolling Stones, asked us to do a demo so he could try and get us an audition at Decca.”

Bowie left the band shortly after the audition because of creative differences.

Letters, bills, booking forms, photographs and promotional sketches from Bowie’s early career will also be up for auction.

Auctioneer Paul Fairweather said the tape was a “significant recording, completely unique and of great historical interest.”